Dune: Part Two has been delayed. The second of Denis Villeneuve’s Frank Herbert adaptations has been pushed back several months due in large part to the ongoing strike against the AMPTP by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild. The movie’s new release date will be March 15, 2024.
Warner Bros. announced the release date move on Thursday, but the first rumblings came from Variety, which said back in July that the studio was thinking about pulling some of its biggest movies into next year while the industry was on strike.
While most people think of the strikes’ effect on the ongoing production of movies and TV, the reality is that the strike agreement prevents actors from promoting their work made under the old deal as well. So, until the studios are able to offer a deal that meets the guilds’ demands, stars won’t be able to do press for any of their big movies.
And in the case of Dune: Part Two, a star-studded blockbuster that Warner Bros. hopes will be one of the biggest movies of the year, it seems like waiting a few months will be well worth promotional airtime from stars like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and all the rest.
One plus to this move is that it indicates that the studios think the strikes might end by early next year. Of course, for that to happen, both sides will have to find common ground in negotiations, something that feels distant at the moment.
